1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a muffler for pianos, which enables a low-volume performance on the piano to be made without causing a change in the lightness to the touch of a key being pressed.
1. Description of the Prior Art
In a grand piano employing a conventional sound volume reducing means, by which the number of strings struck is reduced by moving a hammer laterally with an action mechanism by a pedal stepping operation, so as to obtain a sound softening effect, the dimensions of an operating mechanism become large. A piano made in view of this inconvenience and provided with a support member, which can be moved in the string-extending direction, just above an action mechanism, and a web of felt supported at one end portion thereof on this support member so that the web is interposed between a hammer and a string at a string striking time to reduce the sound volume has been proposed by Japanese Patent Publication No. 22294/1979.
This type of piano requires a special muffler consisting of a web and a support member, in addition to a complicated action mechanism. Moreover, since the action mechanism is screened by the muffler, it becomes difficult to carry out an action mechanism regulating operation. It is desired that the soft web which requires to be moved horizontally in the lateral direction has a considerably high rigidity. However, if this rigidity is excessively high, the sound volume reducing effect lowers.